Mechanical stoker.



N0; 7I4, 7l2. Patent-d' DE01 2,1902. 4J. W. KINCMD. I

MECHANICAL STOKEH` (Applicatiun led Mur. 23, 1899) (No Model.) 26| 1eets-Sheet l.

SL- Y will IIIII I l l III I I :A I R Im -I R l i Il "I N f* II Patented Dec. 2, y|902'. .l. W. KINCAID. MECHANICAL STDKER.

- (Application led Max'. 23, 1899.) um Mouarf.)

A2 s heets-Sheet 3.

WITNE'SEEH toward the right.

nrt trarre JOHN W. KINCAID, OF COVINGTON, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD i TO CHARLES A. KINCAID, OF COVINGTON, VIRGINIA.

MECHANICAL STOKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 714,712, dated December l2, 1902.

Application lecl March 23, l 8 9 9.

To a/ZZ whom, it may concern: Beit knownthat I, JOHN W. KINGAID,a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Covington, in the county of Kenton and State of Kentucky,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanical Stokers, of `which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is amechanical stoker especially adapted to be tted to the furnaces of locomotives now inuse in which the coal is fed at short intervals to the fire in small and well-spread quantities, whereby fuel is economized and no smoke is formed, which can be regulated readily to feed much or little, according to the amount of steam required, and by the use of which the firebox sheets and lines are protected from rapid changes of temperature, due to the inrushing of the outside air.

Referring to the drawings, in which like parts are indicated by similar reference-letters wherever they occur throughout the various views, Figure l is a plan View of a mfchanical Stoker embodying my invention attached to the door of a furnace, the door and the coal-hopper being shown in horizontal section upon line yg/ of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the same, one side of the incasing trough being broken away to expose the bottom of the hopper, the plunger, and the cylinder of the main exigirle. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the same, taken upon line fr, Fig. 2, looking Fig. 4c isa detail sectional plan View, upon an enlarged scale, of the valve and the valve-case of the main engine, taken upon line z e of Figs. 2 and 5. Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the same, taken upon line e fv, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detail plan view of the seat of the valve shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Fig. 7 is a similar` View of the valve, the channel leading fromthe exhaust-port to the exhaust being shown in dotted line.

Referringto the parts, the bottom of the coal-hopper Ahas an opening a at the forward end through which coal fed forward by the spiral conveyer C, whose shaft c is journaled in the ends u. and faz of the hopper, passes to rest upon the apron e, which is attached at its forward end to the plunger e and slides in ways between the hopper and Serial No. 710,168. (No model.) i

the cylinder E of the main engine until the plunger e has been retracted, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 2, when the coal drops down into the trough D, the rear half of which is secured by rivets cl to the sides of the hopper A and the forward end of which passes through an opening in the furnace-door F above grate-bars F2. The plunger e on its forward stroke throws the coal through the door F, opened, as shown in Figs. l and 2, into the furnace. Centrally secured to the furnace-door F at the end of the trough D is a deiiector F', in the shape of a half-cone, for spreading the coal. The plunger e is actuated by the piston-rod e2, which extends through the head of the cylinder E of the main engine, which is run by steain from the boiler admitted to its valve-ease es through the pipe e4.

The valve-seat has two steam-ports e5 and c and two exhaust-ports c7 and e8.' While steam is being admitted through port c5, which communicates with the rear of the cylinder E through pipe e9, to advance the plunger e', the steam in the forward end of the cylinder is exhausting through the port e7 by the branch pipe @10, and while steam is being admitted by the port e to the forward end of the cylinder through pipe e11 to retract the plunger the rear end of the cylinder is exhausting through the port eS through the branch pipe cl2.

That the coal may be well spread over the fire the forward stroke of the plunger is made to vary in rapidity from a stroke which would deposit the coal in front of the furnace-door to one that would throw it to the back of the furnace by varying each time the amount of steam admitted to the rearof the cylinder. To accomplish this, the following construction `is use d:

The valve cl3 has two ports e14 and 615, the former to open the port e5 andthe latter the port e6. Mounted on the valve so as to turn around the Valve-stem @16 is a cam ell, secured to which is a ratchet-wheel @18, which is engaged by a spring-pressed pawl 619, which is mounted on the valve-els, so that when the valve is rotated in one direction the pawl r0- tates the cam, and when the valve is rotated in an opposite direction the cam` is kept from rotating back with it by a spring-pressed pawl IOO e2", attached to the interior wall of the valvecase e3.

The size of the port e6 is unchanged,-so that the return stroke of the plunger does not vary. The rate at which the main engine runs may be regulated by the globe-valves @21.

The spiral conveyer C is run by secondary engines, whose cylinders G and G are either secured upon each side of the cylinder E by braces g g or cast integral with said cylinder. To the steam-chests g2 and g3 of these cylinders steam is supplied from the valve-case e3- to the former through the pipe g4 and to the latter through the branch pipe g5. The rate at which these engines work may be regulated by globe-valves gand g7. The conveyer-shaft c extends backward through the end 0,2 of the hopper and terminates in a cog-Wheel c', which meshes with a worm c2 upon the shaft c3, which is journaled in standards @22 and 623, secured to the rearwardly-extending ange 624, Which is secured to or formed integral with the top of the cylinder E. The shaft c3 terminates in crank-heads o4 and c5, coupled to the crossheads g8 and Q9 by connecting-rods g10 and gli. The valve-stems 912 and Q13, extending from the ends of steam-chests g2 and g3, are reciprocated by shaft c3 by means of sets of levers 914 and 915, connected to eccentrics upon the shaftby rods c6 and c7 and straps o8 and o9. The steam from the exhaust-pipes lm., m', and m2 is conveyed by the pipe M underneath the trough D against the deiiector F' to keep it swept clean.

The valve-stem el terminates in an arm c25, which is reciprocated by a rod H, which is supported in bracket-arms h h2, secured to the trough D, and h3, secured to the sides of the cylinder G. The rod H is reciprocated by an eccentric and strap c10 on the conveyershaft c by means of a lever h4, pivoted upon a post e26, supported upon the iiange 624 a link h5, a link h6, and a rod c, which is secured to strap 010 and works back and forth in a perforation in the standard 62T, supported by iiange e24.

When the -plunger e/ carries forward a charge of coal, the rod H, also on its forward stroke, bears against the angle-arm f, journaled upon the rod f upon the outside ofthe trough D and passing through a curved slot a springfs.

I have described my invention in substantially the same form in which I have made and tested it; but it is obvious that many changes might be made in the specific deinfime tails shown without departing from the spirit or scope of'my invention.

What-I claim is- 1. In a mechanical stoker the combination of a piston-cylinder, a piston within the cylinder, means for admitting steam to and exhausting it from the cylinder to reciprocate the piston therein, a furnace, a trough leading from the cylinder into the furnace above the fire, a plunger Within the trough, a rod connecting the piston and the plunger to communicate the acceleration of the piston to the plunger and means for feeding fuel automatically vinto the trough in front of the plunger when it is retracted, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a mechanical stoker the combination of a piston-cylinder, a piston withinthe cylinder, means for admitting steam to and exhausting it from the cylinder to reciprocate the piston therein, a furnace, a troughleading from the cylinder into the furnace above the fire, a plunger Within the trough, a rod connecting the piston and the plunger to communicate the acceleration of the piston to the plunger, a hopper above the cylinder leaving a way between it and the cylinder and having an opening in advance 'of the front end of the cylinder, means for feeding fuel to the front end of the hopper, and an apron secured to the plunger and reciprocating in the way so that fuel falls in front of the plunger when it is retracted, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a mechanical stoker the combination of a piston-cylinder, a piston within the cylinder, means for admitting steam to and eX- hausting it from the cylinder to reciprocate the piston therein, a furnace, a trough leading from the cylinderinto the furnace above the re, a deflector secured to the forward end of the trough to spread the fuel, a plunger within the trough, a rod connecting the piston and the plunger to communicate the acceleration of the piston to the plunger, and means for feeding fuel automatically into the trough in front of the plunger when it is -retracted,substantially as shown and described.

4. In a mechanical stoker the combination of the reciprocating plunger, the engine for reciprocating the plunger to whose cylinder is secured a trough leading into the fire-box of a furnace, said trough in which the plunger works, the-.hopper above the cylinder, the` apronsecured to the plunger and sliding in ways between the hopper and cylinder to cause the coal to drop in front of the retracted plunger and prevent its falling betweenv the plunger and cylinder, and means for varying the speed of the forward stroke of the plunger to throw the coal to different parts of the furnace, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination of the furnace-door with an opening to admit a trough and lugs upon each side of the opening, the trough, a

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gine with the valve-seat the oscillating valve and the cam for varying the size of the port of the seat for admitting steam to advance the plunger with varying speed and means for feeding fuel into the trough in front of the plunger when retracted, substantially as shown and described. A

7. In a mechanical Stoker a trough or channel leading into a furnace above the gratebars, a plunger in the channel, a conveyer for feeding fuel in front of the plunger, an` `engine for reciprocating the plunger, a valve for controlling the admission and exhaust of steam to and from the engine, and means for` connecting the conveyer andthe Valve whereby the amount of fuel fed to the plunger is kept in proportion to the rate at which the plunger is reciprocated, substantially as shown and described.`

8. In a mechanical Stoker the combination of a reciprocating plunger for throwing fuel into a furnace above the grate-bars, an engine for reciprocating the plunger, means for varying the speeds of the forward strokes of the plunger and means for feeding fuel in front of the retracted plunger, substantially as shown and described.

9. In a mechanical Stoker the combination of a trough leading into the fire-box of a furnace, a plunger reciprocating within the trough, a piston-cylinder Whose piston actuates the plunger, a hopper above the cylinder, an apron secured to the plunger and sliding in Ways between the cylinder and the hopper to allow fuel to drop from the hopper in front of the plunger when it is retracted and means for admitting steam to the cylinder to reciprocate its piston, substantially as shown and described.

10. In a mechanical stoker the combination of a trough leading into the fire-box of a furnace, a reciprocating plunger Within the trough, an engine secured at one end of the trough for reciprocating the plunger, a hopper above the cylinder of the engine, an apron secured to the plunger and sliding in ways between the hopper and cylinder, a spiral conveyer rotating within the bottom of the hopper to feed fuel in front of the retracted plunger and means for rotating the conveyer, substantially as shown and described..

JOHN W. KINOAID.

Witnesses:

WALTER F. MURRAY, EMMA LYFORD. 

